Attitudes and Perceptions Towards Performance-Enhancing Substance Use in Johannesburg Boys High School Sport (Original RESEARCH Article) (Report‪)‬

Introduction The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is the leader in the fight against doping in sport. This agency publishes a list of prohibited substances, which is updated on an annual basis. (1) The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) is one of the many signatories that complies with WADA's prohibited list, and also publishes an annual prohibited list based on South African brand names. (2) Doping is regarded as a form of cheating where athletes use substances that are on these prohibited lists, predominantly for gaining an edge over their competitors. (3) An alternative to doping can be nutritional substance use, which helps to improve the health and performance of active adolescent athletes. Despite strong efforts in attempting to eliminate doping in sport, the use of drugs and prohibited substances to boost performance is common among athletes. (3) South African adolescent sport seems to have changed dramatically, as it appears that there are greater pressures placed on adolescent athletes to excel in sport and some are using performance-enhancing substances (PES) to cope with the demands placed on them. (4-6) The problem is that some of the PES are listed as prohibited, and adolescent athletes might be tempted to use these because the pressures and stresses facing them may be too immense to resist. (1)